"Bernardo O'Higgins: A Short Bio": Bernardo O'Higgins, the son of Ambrose O'Higgins, an Irishman born in Killmactranny parish in Co. Sligo, was the chief architect of Chile's independence.

A TALE OF ‘98: Just over two hundred years ago the light of freedom burned fiercely in every Irish heart. Carricknagat, Vinegar Hill, Castlebar, Collooney and Killala: these names are etched in history’s pages…

"Classiebawn and the Assassination of Lord Mountbatten at Mullaghmore: A Retrospective ": "Given the scale of the conflict a few miles down the road in Northern Ireland, it was almost inevitable that this grandson of Queen Victoria, uncle to Prince Philip, retired Admiral of the Fleet, one time Commander of Allied Forces in Southeast Asia, last Viceroy of India, First Sea Lord and Earl of Burma would be a prime target for some kind of political demonstration..."

Cliffoney, Davitt and the Land League: "Just recently I passed by one of the many building sites, at Cliffoney Co. Sligo, that have sprung up in recent times all over a brash new affluent Ireland... In Spring 1918 a party of local people, under the leadership of the local Sinn Fein committee, decided to take over a section of Lord Ashley’s land, known as ‘The Farm’, near Cliffoney village..."

THE MYSTERY OF JAMES O’CONNOR: "What do we already know of O’Connor? His obituary of 1819 provides a scant outline of his life. Here we read that he and his family lived in Sligo Town where he was born in 1759. After learning the printing trade in Dublin and London, James “returned to his native town, where with the assistance of a friend, he commenced the publication of a paper, coeval with the commencement of the troubles in Ireland..."

Two Holy Wells of Sligo: Dromard and Templeboy: " In the parish of Templeboy, Co. Sligo, in the townland of Ballygrehan, there was another blessed well called Tobar Cathail. It is said that long ago a holy man named Cathal lived somewhere around the district. He was both blind and lame and was brought from house to house in a wheelbarrow. One night he dreamt that his sight and the use of his limbs would be restored if he was brought to a place where rushes grew. He dreamt of it three nights in succession..."

An Dobharchú: The Monster of Glenade Lake: The legend of the Dobharchú (Water hound) stems from the bestial murder of Grainne Ni Conalai at Glenade Lake, Co. Leitrim on September 24th 1722. The details were well known at one time and the ballad sung at fairs on the streets of Kinlough...

Origins of Sligo/Slicech/Sligeach:
Having previously worked for the Ordnance Survey as a Placenames Officer, O'Muráile's article on how 'Sligo' got its name is compelling and comprehensive...

To Hell or Barbados: The Ethnic Cleansing of Ireland: " 'When those earlier Wild Geese had fled, in 1652, the Cromwellian whores had taken the women and children and sailed them down the Shannon and the Lee to the Barbadoes. In their tens of thousands they had turned black under the sun — cooked in a Barbadoes bastible; or dead, their bodies blacker, or rebellious, their Irish bodies red from the whips..."

Maeve de Markievicz, Daughter of Constance: ...The ‘blood sacrifice’ had begun and Madame Markievicz’s part in the fight is well known. But what of her only daughter Maeve? Did she have children? Are there living descendants of the ‘rebel countess’ today?..
Captain Bowen Colthurst, Constance Markievicz and the Easter Rising: ...This brought me to the fascinating and bizarre story of Captain Bowen-Colthurst. Born at Dripsey Castle, County Cork, Ireland, in 1880, Colthurst became a career soldier and was commissioned into the 1st Battalion Irish Guards at age 19...

Voyage of the Erin's Hope; A Fenian Rebellion:
In 1867 a ship called the ‘Jacknell' left New York bound for Ireland. The men on board hoped to assist in a Fenian rising. The enterprise started when on the 12th of April, 1867, a party of forty or fifty men...

Irish Soldiers In the American Revolutionary War: Much has been written about the Irish Brigade in America’s Civil War, the idea for a “foreign legion” unit having come from the “Wild Geese,” as the Irish who fought in the various European wars were called. All-Irish units were formed in many countries--including France, Spain, and Austria—as the Europeans came to realize that the Irish made superior soldiers when properly trained...

Ship of hope, ship of tears: ...
It turns out that the ship was the S.S. Walnut sailing from Sweden toward Canada's Halifax harbor with her human cargo to make a bid for freedom in a new land. The 700-ton ship was originally built as a Royal Navy minesweeper and had living quarters for a crew of 18...

Virginia: The men who built the railroadsThe word "fardowner” appeared in America at least as early as the 1830s, and referred to people from Ireland who came to obtain work on the new systems of canals and railways. The word seems to have been applied only to immigrant workers who were Catholic. Few of these émigrés were from Ulster...A Mullaghmore Cromwellian: Burns/Byrne of Mullaghmore/North Sligo:Chased with knivesSome years ago, in an attempt to find out where my Burns ancestors came from, I researched a memoir that my great grandfather had written. Patrick, who in 1847 had migrated from Easky, Co. Sligo, to America, wrote that our progenitor was a Jacobite soldier from Co. Wicklow who in 1691 fled north to Sligo after the defeat at Aughrim...

Review: From a Clear Blue Sky, Nicholas Knatchbull: Timothy Knatchbull, survivor of the Mountbatten assassination at Mullaghmore, Co. Sligo, has recorded and published for the 30th anniversary a personal account of the incident in a book titled From a Clear Blue Sky.

"Profile of an Irish Village", a story of conquest and evolution, the story of Mullaghmore is a microcosm of Irish villages everywhere: settlement, conquest, freedom and then the decline of small farming communities in the 20th century

An Irish Halloween: The way it was: "Not so long ago people believed that on Hallowe’en — the eve of the old Celtic festival of Samhain — the spirit world opened and became one with ours...

A SAMHAIN SACRIFICE: Martinmas, St. Martin and Blood Offering: "Blood was spattered everywhere. Bright red droplets smeared the whitewashed wall, dripped from the feathered head and formed small puddles in the muddy street..."

The Christmas Mummers: Taking their name from the 'Fairy Whirlwind' of Irish folklore the Sligo 'Sidhe Gaoithe' Mummers play is part of an unbroken living tradition.

The Turfcutters: Maureen Connolly looks out over the deserted peat bogs and remembers how it used to be.

Sleabhac: Manna from the Seashore: "Time is getting short for anyone wishing to gather winkles, báirneachs (limpets) and other tasty mollusks that you will find here. Traditionally they can be eaten only in a month with an ‘r’ in it. This is the time of year to pick carrageen, crannach and other delicacies too..."

A Visit to St. Patricks Well: "Far away from the razamataz and the ballyhoo, the leprechaun hats and the plastic shamrocks of the big city and town parades, there are still some who celebrate the feast of St. Patrick as it has always been done…"

Benada Abbey and its Unique Statue: "...Freddie who had been away for several days on one of his frequent trips to the Gentleman’s Club in Ardnagalass, Skreen, passed by the little oratory and saw a strange light shining all around Our Lady’s Statue. He was astonished to find he could not penetrate within the circle it made..."

Tom and the Virgin:"There is a thatched house on a hill in Oughill. The man who lives in it can often be seen standing in his doorway looking out over the sea below. On the outside window ledge beside him stands a large painted statue of a pretty young woman in long white robes; a virgin, Tom’s Virgin..".

Leaving Ireland: "Immediately the cabin was full of the sound of bitter wailing. A dismal cry rose from the women gathered in the kitchen.
"Far over the sea they will be carried," began woman after woman.
In the bedroom, the son and daughter, on their knees, clung to their mother, who held their heads between their hands and rained kisses on both heads ravenously..."

A Letter from the Grave:"My dear Mary, this is a broken hearted letter I am sending you as I cannot bring it myself. Send me word in your next letter if you intend to come home to me, when your time is out for I could not live at home without being in this place where my poor Mary used to be..."

Matchmaking: Fortune or Misfortune: "Where marriage is concerned there are always men who are too timid to pop the question. Like Patrick Kavanagh’s Tarry Flynn: he was afraid to put things to the test. It was better to live in doubt, which he reckoned was the same as hope, than to have all one’s doubts and fears proven well founded. In other words the finality of the soul-shattering cut of rejection!..."

A Land League incident at Coolavin, Co. Sligo: "
A very lamentable story reaches us from the Clogher district as to the rejoicings which occurred on the death of the policeman Armstrong”. Our Correspondent states that “from Ballaghaderreen to Frenchpark, from Clogher to Loughglynn, bonfires were last night lighted on the hills in joyful celebration of the event” (Irish Times April 1881)Wrenboys in Ireland: ‘The wran, the wran, the king of all birds...': "Groups who went out in the Sligo-Leitrim area could only say, by way of explanation, that ‘she betrayed Our Lord’. In what way nobody knew, but because of this ‘it was good to hunt and kill her around Christmas’. Long ago bands of youths knocked ditches and scoured hedges in order to capture and kill the bird to have it for display..."

The Boy with the Glass Arse: Mrs. Mulligan wore a hat. It was a soft black felt hat with a rim on it like a man’s hat, and a funny sort of pointed wedge shape on top. The black hat sat on her head all day long whether she was inside or outside, working or resting — she was never without it...

Confusion: A short Story:Where babies come from. This tale is about the confusion that surrounded us as children growing up in an innocent long-ago Ireland...

A Halloween scare, 'Tom the Devil' and the Pitchcap:
In all Celtic countries Hallowe’en night, when the mysterious, unknown underworld opened up, was a time to tell the future. Echoes of earlier magical observances can be seen in attempts at prediction which, long ago, were taken very seriously indeed...

"Mullaghmore I Used to know ye": Borodin, Mozart and Claddagh Dúbh": The ass and horse carts of old Mullaghmore, with their bright colours of red and blue, rattle up and down the rough and stony roads of my mind. On a quiet evening each one, with its own distinctive sound, could be heard and identified by the knock of the axle long before it was seen...

Killaspugbrone, Bishop Brón & Coney Island. (A
Miracle at Coney)
For years following the 'miracle at Coney' the incident on Sligo's Coney Island became known as the Day of the Rabbits. Cana in the Holy Land might have it’s changing of water into wine, and Bethsaida its Miracle of the loaves and fishes, but what was that compared to the Miracle at Coney?...

Lonesome for Sligo:
"I have no Sligo blood myself, but one of my teachers in primary school was a Dominican Sister from near Ballymote. She was an O'Hara, and her mother was a Durkin as I recall...'
A Parcel from America: Reading the tealeaves:
In a strange way brown wrapping paper and hairy string remind me of Christmases long ago just as much as do mistletoe and bright berried holly. Centuries of emigration to America ensured that a great number of us had relatives in that country...

The Twisting of the Ropes: In ‘The Twisting of the Rope’ from ‘Tales of Red Hanrahan’ W.B. Yeats tells of an incident during which Hanrahan was tricked by the woman of the house where he was a guest.

The Fairy Stones This story was told by Pat Clancy, also from Cliffoney, who was 64 years old in 1938:
After the ambush at Moneygold, English soldiers, known as the Black and Tans, burned a house in Cliffoney owned by the McCannon family...

Women in business -- Do potatoes grow on trees? -- Child sex abuse -- Demolition of Ballisodare flour mill -- Fire of 1856 at the mill -- Dentists for donkeys -- Organic gardening: is it new, or just re-discovered information -- Sligo ladies hire toyboys -- Poteen making in modern times — the Riabhóg Days: March borrows 3 days from April — Constance Markievicz and Easter Week — St. Patrick in Sligo — Children's graveyards and more...

Men under attack; is it time for chastity/safety belts? — Great excitement about Westlife’s latest release: “You Raise Me Up” — A 20th century Thoreau: this Sligoman turned down 3 million for a life of peace in the woods — "They [The nationalist community in Northern Ireland ] were treated like the Nazis treated the Jews.": Fr. Alec Reid. Should he apologise for saying it? — The widow of Garda John Keogh at the Morris Tribunal. Also: Supt. Kevin Ginty refuses to comment on assault case — You've heard of the Celtic Tiger. Now read about the pride of the litter: the 'Sligo Tiger' — the Morris Tribunal again: John Nicholson, John White and Frank McBrearty — A musical tribute to Michael Coleman the world famous Sligo fiddler — Sligo supports Mayo’s Rossport 5 — 'Cute hoors', nude Emperors, and an alternative view of the grand opening of " Sligo's Inner Relief Road "! — Does Sligo have enough energy reserves beneath our feet to make us independent of the oil producing nations?

Sexy dancing in Leitrim - Ireland, she is a-changing - St. Patrick’s Day on Achill Island, Co. Mayo - Farmers and water charges - St. Patrick's Day Exodus - €250,000 taken in bank ATMs scam - Sligo is Ireland's seventh wealthiest county - DNA testing and fatherhood or ' Whatever happened to "'Holy Ireland"'? - Sligo Band 'Dervish' to represent Ireland in the Eurovision - Immigrants and Crime - New Venture: Transatlantic flights from Knock Airport, Co. Mayo - Festival of Brigid - Sotheby's sale of stolen Yeats stopped - Garda James Lavelle dismissed for theft - Fairies blamed for fallen electricity poles - A dog named Sligo joins the internet generation… - Vandalism at Knocknarea - "The Bull McSharry" and the Hillwalkers - Death of Michael Yeats - So who's winning the 'war on terrorism'? - Sligo town planning for a population of 40,000 - First salmon of the year on River Drowse - One Irishman's Christmas - Landslide at Ballintrillick - Téada 'Irish Christmas in America' Tour.

Inishmurray Season Over - Late Haymaking in Sligo - Ploughing with Asses - Judge Mary Devins and the 'Shell to Sea' Protesters - Riverdance Star, Michael Flatley, Visits Sligo Land of his Ancestors - Flight of the Earls and Aftermath - Translation of “Anocht is Uaigneach Éire” by Aindrias mac Marcuis - Inishmurray Stones - Markievicz House Renovation - New trains for Sligo line soon - Sligo: "Summer's gone and Winter's in the meadow..." - Inishmurray Island Row rumbles on - Desecration of Inishmurray Island - Sligo, Gaspe, Quebec and the Carrick of Whitehaven -Tom Ward hacked to death outside Sligo home - Naturally occurring roadside flora at Mullaghmore, Co. Sligo - "Bertiegate" continues - The Seanad and Mary O'Rourke: a handy place to vegetate - Garland Sunday in Sligo - Ten percent of Sligo population is non-Irish - Immigrant crime - Mullaghmore Residents oppose new housing development - Death of Joan O'Hara - North Sligo’s water ‘worse than in Africa’ - An Orange March at Rosnowlagh, Co. Donegal - The Wages of Sin is Death - Living in Ireland but never Irish - John Ellis: Laughing all the way to the bank

Plight of the Palestinians — Sligo’s Cancer Care Debate intensifies — Jimmy Devins playing to the gallery — Bishop Jones: Removal of services a ‘grave injustice’ — 'Centres of Excellence' — Remembering Padraig Pearse and the men and women who took part in the Easter Rising April 1916 — A Fireside Story of how St. Patrick Banished the last Serpent — January 31st 2008,Cancer Care battle continues — Ban on Brazilian beef — Westlife's Shane Filan in trouble — A pig's squeal — And Politicians! [Bertie Ahearn] — "I can't recall if I did say, but I did not say..." — Robbie Burns Day; 'Would that God the giftie gie us, to see oorsels as others see us' — Farmers refuse to pay 'exorbitant' water charges — The sky's the limit in Sligo with advent of new wedding freedoms — Westlife's Kian Egan to marry — 'Money for Jam' — Recession bites in Sligo — Irish team conquer South Pole! — David Lynch shot dead — Sligo: the dirtiest town — The Worm Turns!: ‘There is not a man who is not being bossed by his wife.' — Celebrating an IrishChristmas now — Celebrating an Irish Christmas then — The Christmas Candle — Christmas Candle no more — Sligo Garda 'pulverises' ex-girlfriend — Barks worse than Bites?

Autumn equinox at the Loughcrew megalithic cairn; anniversary of the assassination of Lord Louis Mountbatten; 'Shell to Sea' concert in Grange; Misfortunes of a Sligoman meant for better things; Campaign to repatriate timbers of Carricks of Whitehaven ends, plus image of what she looked like; Also: A lighthearted story from Paul Burns about his encounters with the pig; Hulk of the famine ship Carrick of Whithaven found; Michael Viney reflection; Sligo arts and crafts project; Return to Ireland, some thoughts on emigration and return; Easter and St Patrick's Day; asylum seeker Pamela Izevbekhai; Decision to transfer Cancer Services an Obscenity; 'Shell to Sea' supporters in Grange, Co. Sligo.

Newsround (14)September 23rd 2009 to February 1st 2010
St Brigid's Day: Lá Fhéile Bríd Shona; What does the Europen Parliament mean to Sligo?; Mountbatten assassination; thirty year secret revelations!; Winter's grip on Sligo and Ireland; Acting the Maggot; Winter Solstice at Newgrange; Bishop expresses ‘horror’ at child abuse report; Apparitions at Knock, Co. Mayo; Canadian Ambasador Patrick Binns visits County Sligo;Lisbon Referendum: Sligo says ‘Yes’; Three People rescued off the Bundoran Coast; When the drink is in the wit is out!